FiestaUpdater

fiestaupdater is the companion sidecar container that powers FiestaBoard's in-app updates. This page is a technical reference for the sidecar itself — its architecture, configuration, HTTP API, and security model.

Just want the Update Now button?

If you only want to enable in-app updates, see In-App Updates for the user-facing guide. This page is for understanding what the sidecar does and how to configure it in custom Docker deployments.

Why a separate container?

The fiestaboard container can't safely update itself: as soon as docker compose up -d recreates it, the running process (and any HTTP response in flight) is killed. A side process is needed that:

• Has access to the host's Docker socket
• Survives the recreation of the fiestaboard container
• Is not itself recreated as part of the update

fiestaupdater is that process. It's a tiny container based on docker:cli with a socat-driven HTTP listener and a single shell handler script.

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Docker host                        │
│                                                       │
│   ┌──────────────────┐     internal network          │
│   │   fiestaboard    │────────►┌────────────────┐   │
│   │  (port 4420)     │  POST   │  fiestaupdater │   │
│   │                  │  /update│  (port 8765)   │   │
│   └──────────────────┘  Bearer └───────┬────────┘   │
│                                         │            │
│                                         │ docker.sock │
│                                         ▼            │
│                              ┌────────────────────┐  │
│                              │  Docker daemon     │  │
│                              │  pull + up -d      │  │
│                              └────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key properties:

• Internal-network only. The sidecar's port is not published to the host — it's reachable only by other containers on the same Docker Compose network.
• Bearer-token authenticated. Both containers share FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN via .env. Tokens are compared by SHA-256 hash to limit timing-attack surface.
• Service-name allow-listed. The compose service the sidecar is willing to act on is validated against ^[a-z0-9_-]+$ before being passed to docker compose, so even a compromised env var can't smuggle in shell metacharacters.

FiestaPi vs. Docker installs

Install type	Sidecar status	Auto-update default
FiestaPi	Pre-configured, enabled by default	On — applies updates daily
Docker / manual	Off by default; opt in via COMPOSE_PROFILES	Off — banner shown, user clicks Update Now

On FiestaPi the FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN is generated automatically on first boot by firstboot.sh. On Docker installs you generate it yourself (see below).

Docker Compose configuration

Below is the full fiestaupdater service definition used by docker-compose.hub.yml. To enable in-app updates on a custom deployment, add this service to your compose file (or pull it in via COMPOSE_PROFILES=fiestaupdater):

services:
  fiestaupdater:
    image: fiestaboard/fiestaupdater:latest
    container_name: fiestaupdater
    profiles: ["fiestaupdater"]
    restart: unless-stopped
    pull_policy: always
    environment:
      - FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN=${FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN}
      - FIESTAUPDATER_SERVICE=fiestaboard
      - FIESTAUPDATER_COMPOSE_FILE=/compose/docker-compose.yml
      - COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME=fiestaboard
    cap_add:
      - SYS_BOOT  # required for POST /shutdown
    volumes:
      # Talk to the host Docker daemon to pull images and recreate services.
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      # Read the same compose file the user deployed with so we update the
      # exact same service definition.
      - ./docker-compose.hub.yml:/compose/docker-compose.yml:ro
      # The compose file references `env_file: .env` for the fiestaboard
      # service. When the sidecar runs `docker compose -f /compose/...`,
      # Compose resolves `.env` relative to the compose file's directory.
      # Without this mount, every pull/up/restart fails with
      # "env file /compose/.env not found".
      - ./.env:/compose/.env:ro
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "wget", "--quiet", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://127.0.0.1:8765/healthz"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 5s

Three required volume mounts

All three volumes are required:

1. docker.sock — to run docker compose against the host daemon
2. The compose file — so the sidecar updates exactly the service you deployed
3. .env — Compose resolves env_file relative to the compose file's directory

Without the .env mount, every update silently no-ops with env file /compose/.env not found.

Enabling on an existing Docker install

1. Generate a token and add it (along with COMPOSE_PROFILES) to your .env:

   echo "COMPOSE_PROFILES=fiestaupdater" >> .env
   echo "FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN=$(head -c 32 /dev/urandom | od -An -tx1 | tr -d ' \n')" >> .env

2. Make sure your compose file contains the fiestaupdater service block above. (docker-compose.hub.yml already does.)

3. Bring the stack up:

   docker compose -f docker-compose.hub.yml up -d

4. The Update Now button appears in Settings → System once the sidecar passes its healthcheck.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN	yes	—	Shared bearer token. The sidecar refuses to start without it. Must match the value the fiestaboard container sees so the API can authenticate.
FIESTAUPDATER_SERVICE	no	fiestaboard	Compose service name to update. Validated against ^[a-z0-9_-]+$; values that don't match fall back to fiestaboard.
FIESTAUPDATER_COMPOSE_FILE	no	/compose/docker-compose.yml	Path inside the sidecar container to the compose file. Mount your compose file here.
FIESTAUPDATER_PORT	no	8765	Port the sidecar listens on (internal network only).
COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME	no	derived from compose dir	Must match the project name the main stack uses, so docker compose operates on the same containers. Set to fiestaboard to match docker-compose.hub.yml.

COMPOSE_PROFILES=fiestaupdater is set on the host (in your .env), not inside the sidecar container — it tells Docker Compose to include the sidecar service when bringing the stack up.

HTTP API

All routes are served on port 8765 on the Docker Compose internal network. None of them are reachable from the host.

Method	Path	Auth	Description
GET	/healthz	none	Liveness probe. Returns {"status":"ok"}.
GET	/version	none	Returns the running container's image and digest. Used by the UI to detect when an update has actually landed.
POST	/update	bearer	docker compose pull + up -d --no-deps for the configured service. Returns 202 Accepted immediately; the update runs in the background.
POST	/restart	bearer	docker compose restart for the configured service. Returns 202.
POST	/shutdown	bearer	Stops the compose stack and powers off the host. Requires the SYS_BOOT capability. Returns 202.

Authentication is Authorization: Bearer <FIESTAUPDATER_TOKEN>. Failed auth returns 401. Unknown routes return 404.

POST /update and POST /restart return 202 before the work starts because the action will tear down the fiestaboard container that originated the HTTP request — the connection would otherwise be cut before any response could be flushed.

Security

• No host port. The sidecar's listener is bound to the compose-internal network only. Even on a multi-tenant LAN, no other host can reach /update.
• Bearer-token auth. A 64-hex-character random token is required for every state-changing route. SHA-256 hash comparison reduces timing-attack surface.
• Service-name allow-list. The configured service name must match ^[a-z0-9_-]+$ before being passed to docker compose. No user input is ever interpolated into a shell command.
• Read-only mounts. The compose file and .env are mounted :ro.
• Limited blast radius. The sidecar can pull images and recreate the one service named in FIESTAUPDATER_SERVICE. It cannot start arbitrary containers or run arbitrary shell commands.

If you're uncomfortable mounting the Docker socket at all, leave the fiestaupdater profile off and update manually.

Troubleshooting

The Update Now button doesn't appear. The web UI probes the sidecar at startup. Check:

docker compose ps fiestaupdater          # is it running and healthy?
docker logs fiestaupdater                # any errors?
docker exec fiestaboard wget -qO- http://fiestaupdater:8765/healthz

The most common cause is COMPOSE_PROFILES=fiestaupdater missing from .env, so the sidecar service is never started.

Update returns 202 but nothing happens. Check the sidecar logs for env file /compose/.env not found — this means the .env volume mount is missing from your compose file. Add it (see configuration) and recreate the sidecar.

Update started but FiestaBoard never came back. Wait a minute (the Pi can take 60–90s to recreate the container), then reload http://fiestaboard.local:4420. If still down:

docker logs fiestaboard
docker compose -f docker-compose.hub.yml up -d

I want to roll back. Pin the previous image tag (e.g. image: fiestaboard/fiestaboard:5.1.1) in your compose file, then docker compose up -d. Automated rollback is planned for a future release.

See also

• In-App Updates — user-facing guide and Update Now flow
• FiestaPi Quick Start — pre-configured Pi image with the sidecar enabled
• Raspberry Pi Deployment — running on an existing Pi with Docker
• Environment Variables — full env-var reference